Critic Reviews

The bottom line is Wario's Woods is without question another great title from Nintendo. While the audio and visulas won't blow you away, this game excelles with its great gameplay, plus its many features will keep you addicted and occupied for hours. This is a game that puzzle fans and action fans should definetly check out. It may not be the big finish some NESers envisioned for their trusty console, but Nintendo definetly came through and the NES got one last great game before heading into videogame retirement.

No doubt I’m being overly sentimental, but Wario’s Woods was the last gasp of air from the NES, a final mark upon the gaming world before it was laid to rest. Not only is it a good puzzle game, it’s a great piece of history.

So all in all an extremely clever and original puzzle game, with lots to sink your teeth into. Not for everyone, perhaps, but great if you like this sort of thing. Also, Mario fans take note: this game has quite a lot of novelty appeal. I mean, picture it: Toad in the starring role, taking on Wario! In a game that's actually quite good.

It's a shame this title is as rare as it is. A Super NES version was given a substantially wider release at about the same time as its 8-bit cousin, which is good news. As a latter-day NES game, however, Wario's Woods sparkles particularly brightly.

The
regular game mode disappointingly becomes tedious but is broken up
time to time with peculiar boss battles. Other modes include timed
runs and versus play, while the battery backup handles taking care of
progress and keeping records. These extra features dress up the title
nicely, and very good graphics and sounds shine up what otherwise
would be a ho-hum affair.

Wario’s Woods is far from a bad game. As the very final NES game, it boasts a level of polish not reached by many other games on the system. It features some nice graphics, several distinct modes, 99 levels with save points, and even a tutorial. It’s a noteworthy but often forgotten piece of video game history, made somewhat redundant by the fact that a superior SNES version of the game was released on the exact same day (there’s probably a metaphor for passing the torch hidden in there somewhere). Though it may not carry the same simple, addictive quality of some of Nintendo’s other puzzle games, Wario’s Woods is still a fun little diversion… especially if you have someone with whom to play that killer Vs. mode.